..:: NF4K8MC-ERS Layout: CPU ::..

                       

     From an overhead perspective, it’s easy to see that Foxconn wasn’t going for an aggressive look with the NF4K8MC-ERS. This board is outfitted with the typical yellow-brown PCB, and the only things that really stick out are the chipset cooling unit and the pale green capacitor sheaths. I don’t much care for this color PCB, but given that it is a budget board, this is far from unexpected. Colored PCB’s cost more, hence why they aren’t often seen on budget oriented products. From a wide view, the NF4K8MC-ERS looks to have a good layout, but let’s zoom in to find out more.

     The Socket 939 has been oriented lengthwise from East to West across the motherboard, while the retention mechanism is found in the opposite orientation, North to South. This is the standard retention mechanism that can be found on nearly all Socket 939 motherboards. Foxconn has attached a large back plate to the rear of the PCB to prevent flexing, as well as to give the heatsink support while it’s mounted. This back plate is affixed to the PCB surface via the common method, and should provide more than ample stability for supporting heavy heatsink units.

     Foxconn has chosen to implement a three-phase power delivery design for the NF4K8MC-ERS. On some of the high end Pentium 4 based motherboards, we’ve seen manufacturers beginning to head towards a four-phase design, however a large amount of these Socket 939 boards are still using three-phase designs. These three-phase designs are capable of providing enough power and a smooth enough core voltage due to the lessened power draw of these AMD Athlon 64 processors. In the future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see four-phase implementations of some of the Ultra motherboards to provide an even smoother voltage to the processor.

     The components that make up the bulk of the processor portion of NF4K8MC-ERS deal with the core voltage supply. Along the right hand side of the processor socket, we find a rather barren landscape with only three small capacitors standing out. In the upper right hand corner of the retention mechanism, we find the three-pin CPU fan power header, along with a typical 100uF capacitor. It’s interesting to note that Foxconn has the capability to add one of the newer four-pin power connectors, as can be seen by the silk-screening in this same area.

     The left hand side of the processor socket, as well as the portion along the top edge of the PCB, houses all of the oh-so-typical items that can be found on every other motherboard on the market. Here, we see a large line-up of ultra-low ESR 2200uF capacitors, as well as several ultra-low ESR 1800uF capacitors as well. There are three toroidal inductors, as one would expect with a three-phase power supply design. This are also houses the various MOSFET’s, and SMT devices required for the power supply.

     The area below the Socket 939 is somewhat cluttered with a few large capacitors and other electrical system devices. This area houses one of the three-pin fan power connectors which could be utilized as a rear exhaust fan power outlet. The main item of interest here is the usual four-pin 12V core voltage power connection. This is the most common layout and positioning for this connector, so no real issues arise. The area where the typical Northbridge would be housed holds a series of silk-screened pin diagrams for three jumper blocks for the Boot Block, BIOS Write Protect, and Clear CMOS.